Understanding
by SignsofSam
Summary: There were things about him that irked her, that she would never understand, but she did understand his love now. ONESHOT!


**Title: **Understanding

**Author:** S.N. Brown

**Pairing: **Mark/Lexie

**Summary: **There were things about him that irked her, that she would never understand, but she did understand his love now.

**Author's Notes: **this is my first grey's anatomy fanfiction, so please be gentle, but be honest! Any reviews are appreciated!

Sometimes she didn't understand him.

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_She was watching the rain pour down on the city, as per usual in Seattle, her hands tracing patterns on the frost over the window. Her hair was pushed behind her ear on one side, but hung loose on the other, hiding her beautiful eyes. He could see her reflection in the window, see her biting her lip as she concentrated, and he slipped out of their bed, smiling when she jumped in surprised as he wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her back to him. "Come back to bed," he whispered, kissing her shoulder, the juncture of her neck, the underside of her chin, her cheek, and finally her ear, feeling her shudder against him as he ran his tongue along the outer shell, one of her favorite spots. "Come on, Lex."_

_She didn't understand why, when he could chose anyone in the world to be in bed with, he kept picking her._

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_The day had been long. She had killed a patient-_killed a patient_-and though she knew that it wasn't the first and certainly wouldn't be the last, she still felt crappy. Nothing was going to change that._

_He opened the door to the on call room, and she knew who it was without looking up, hurriedly wiping off tears even as one of his hands, those beautiful, made for fixing people hands, came up to capture a tear, taking it from her. "Lexie, don't cry."_

"_I killed a man, Mark!" she whispered, trying her best to keep a brave face. He didn't need to see her like this. He should be concentrating on his important surgeries. He should be out in the hospital, doing great things._

_Instead, he was sitting in the on-call room, holding her tight._

_She didn't understand why, when he could chose someone with a perfect career, he chose to help her through her toughest times._

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"_You should where the green dress. It hugs you in all the right places."_

_He grinned like a little boy, settling back against the headboard of their bed as he watched her hold the beautiful green dress against her body, frowning slightly. "It makes me look fat, Mark," she said, biting her lip._

_He climbed off the bed, stalking to her, grabbing the dress from her hands. "You are not fat, Lexie. This dress does nothing but make you shine even more than you already do. This dress shows everybody that you have a killer body that you only have to show off on special occasions."_

"_Mark, I'm…I'm not beautiful like that. Maybe I should wear-"_

"_You are beautiful like that," he said stubbornly, leaning forward to kiss her on one cheek. "You are beautiful." He kissed her on the other cheek. "You are gorgeous." He kissed her nose. "You are lovely." He kissed her forehead. "You are everything I could want and everything I could imagine that made a woman beautiful." He kissed her lips finally, reaching for the black dress, tossing it back on the bed. _

_He pulled away, and she found the green dress in her hands._

_She didn't understand why, when he could chose a girl who looked like she belonged on a runway, he instead chose to teach her the true meaning of beauty._

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_She was halfway through a bottle of wine with Meredith and Derek when there was a knock on the door. She glanced up as Derek left the table, but her eyes sought out the wood of the table as he ushered Mark back in. "I need you to come with me," Mark said, somewhat insistently, and for a moment Lexie thought she might be talking to Derek._

_And then she looked up and saw those piercing blue eyes staring straight at her._

"_I…I can't," she muttered, not looking at her half-sister or her post-it husband._

"_C'mon, Lexie. Just for awhile. I promise to bring you back in one piece."_

_She sighed, rolling her eyes, and stood. "One hour," she said, and he nodded, grinning._

_He took her to a house. A beautiful house near the woods, two stories, all brick, back yard fenced in. "This is the house you're buying?"_

"_Come inside?" he answered instead, and she followed him, if only to give herself a glimpse at what might have been. The entrance was grand, and she looked to the living room, could see back to the kitchen._

"_Is this the one with the fireplace or the back yard the size of Montana?" she asked, looking back to him._

"_So, I don't have a plan, like you. I didn't expect this, and I'm not…I don't do relationships, Little Grey. I just…I ruin everything. But I don't want to ruin it with you. I want to fit in the plan with you. I want to wake up to you every morning, go to sleep with you every night, get a dog with you, eventually…whatever, but I want that with you. And, I know that you are the expert at having futures, so teach me."_

_Her eyes widened, and she watched as he shrugged off his jacket, slinging it over the banister of the stairs._

"_What?"_

"_Teach me, Lexie." His voice was strained, and she watched as he pulled off his shirt. "Teach me." He nudged off his shoes, and unbuttoned his jeans, before looking back at her. "C'mon. Don't tell me you can't see something with me too?"_

_She didn't understand why, when he could have a woman with no plan, he chose to incorporate himself into hers', instead._

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_Dinner had been burnt, but he didn't care. They sat in their bed, naked, and ate it, smiling at one another and kissing and touching, and being a couple that lived together. His hand trailed up her forearm, her foot moved up his leg, and they looked at one another for a few minutes before breaking out into smiles, leaning in and finding one another. _

"_I love you," he whispered._

_She didn't understand why, when he could have just a one-night fling, he offered her those three magical words instead, and then she said them back._

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"_I can't believe this," she said to Meredith as they sat at lunch. "I can't believe this."_

"_I know. It's only the thousandth time you've said it."_

"_I'm pregnant. I can't believe this."_

"_It'll be okay," Meredith soothed. "He's going to understand."_

"_He left. Without saying anything. Just walked out of the room, out of the house. He's totally not going to understand."_

_He found her later, in Mrs. Corbett's room, as she was explaining the older woman's procedure. "I was an idiot," he interrupted her speech, and she turned to glare at him._

"_Not now."_

"_I was an idiot. I want a kid, and I want our kid. I'm happy. I'm ecstatic. I'm going to be a father."_

_She knew about Addison, about what happened there, and she saw the flicker of hope that, maybe this time, he would be able to show the world that he would be a great father._

"_Mark, I'm with-" she glanced to Mrs. Corbett, who smiled up at her young doctor._

"_Go ahead honey. It's not every day you get to hear a man admit he's an idiot." Lexie laughed, Mark laughed, and she knew he was going to make a good father._

_She didn't understand why, when he could be going for the most women bedded record, he was deciding to lay down roots and start a family with her, instead._

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"_I'm going to kill him."_

"_No, you aren't," Addison answered. "Push…"_

_They were stuck in an elevator. It would be Lexie Grey's luck to not only get stuck in an elevator with Addison Montgomery, but also to have her baby decide it was ready to come out _then_._

_She screamed, she cried, and she remembered a whole bunch of cuss words about what she was going to do to Mark afterwards, but when that beautiful baby boy with that mop of Mark-colored hair was given to her and the elevator started again, she forgot all about her plans._

_And when she first saw Mark, waiting anxiously behind the maintanence workers, she smiled, and brought him his knew son._

_She didn't understand why, when he could be out saving lives and being brilliant, he instead chose to stay with his son during his entire hospital stay, never letting the boy out of his sight._

_-------------_

There were things about him that irked her, that she would never understand, but she did understand his love now. She understand that he wasn't the manwhore people thought, and she understood that he knew what love was. She understood it every time he had held the baby for hours, the boy's tiny fingers wrapped around his pinky, singing softly in the nursery. She understood every time he had pride in his eyes after doing a reconstructive surgery, giving someone back a part of themselves that they thought they had lost forever. She understood every time Derek and he were watching the game and she caught Mark looking at his best friend as if he didn't deserve it, because Mark had lost it all and wasn't willing to risk it again.

And she definitely understood as they lay in bed together, hands intertwined, Marks thumb rubbing against the engagement ring that had found a new home on Lexie's left ring finger.

She understood him.


End file.
